Five mathematical gobbets

At university I was intrigued by a historian friend and his constant quest for gobbets – short, apposite quotations that he avidly collected for possible use in future essays. It strikes me that there might be analogous nuggets of mathematics and I offer the following five short, self-contained items both for amusement and for possible classroom use. Each contains a surprising element and I have deliberately left a few loose ends to encourage further exploration.

Publication Details

Journal
The Mathematical Gazette
Published
2025-06-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/mag.2025.10078
Primary Topic
History and Theory of Mathematics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Five mathematical gobbets

The Mathematical Gazette
History and Theory of Mathematics
article

Five mathematical gobbets

article en

Abstract

At university I was intrigued by a historian friend and his constant quest for gobbets – short, apposite quotations that he avidly collected for possible use in future essays. It strikes me that there might be analogous nuggets of mathematics and I offer the following five short, self-contained items both for amusement and for possible classroom use. Each contains a surprising element and I have deliberately left a few loose ends to encourage further exploration.

The Mathematical GazetteVol. 109(575)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 90%
History and Theory of Mathematics
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Five mathematical gobbets · The Mathematical Gazette (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS